Friday, July 1, 2016

Poor Bullwinkle

"Auntie Petunia? The Tour de Fleece starts tomorrow and I don't have my ravatar yet. I'm not exactly sure what a ravatar is, but I've been told I should have one and all mom is doing is tearing barn walls down and then putting some back up and and some gates up and then going to town three times in one day and feeding some stupid baby bird and then this afternoon she built him a fancy cage on the porch and I've had to sit in the barn with Auntie Lila all day because Auntie Blossom bugged out last night but then wanted back in when it was 'cookies before bed time' last night and anyway, I don't know what the Tour de Fleece is, but I don't think I'm ready."

A ravatar is Ravelry's version of an avatar. I've done some really cute ones in the past, like Petunia's and 20's, but this year I am drawing a blank. Well, I'd LIKE to do something with Bullwinkle, this year's team captain, itching his butt on a skein winder or spinning wheel, but in reality, when you get down to it...that's a bit weird ;-).

Saint Tim tore the barn wall down in between the two sheep stalls. There's a quick tour on my Instagram and Facebook feed and I'll be taking some regular pictures tonight when all the gates replacing the boards are all in place. It makes the barn so much nicer and we should have done this years ago.

He took down a few boards too many and I had to put them back up this morning. All fixed.

I did make three trips to town yesterday. It was ridiculous. Luckily it's only 3 miles away.

I have been feeding a baby sparrow (I think) for almost a week now. He fell or was pushed out of his nest above the roll up door/in the rafters/? in Bullwinkle and Lila's stall, but wasn't ready to fledge. He landed in a somewhat secure spot in an old mineral feeder and I watched for a couple hours with no attention or concern from a parent...so I started feeding him. Sigh.

He now has most of his feathers and needed to move from his bucket to a cage that would allow him to start testing his wings while still being fed. Luckily a friend had a baby chick brooder set up thingy that is perfect (wait, that made 4 trips to town in one day! ;-) and even has add on addition that will let him really have some flying practice space if we think he needs it.

While I was gone picking up the big cage, Tim took down the dividing wall and then unhooked the big mower, hooked up to the big manure spreader (prepping for a summer barn clean out tomorrow)...and drove it (yes, the tractor and spreader) to the neighbors. Ah, farm life ;-).

I came home, blocked the driveway with the truck (how was I to know he was out joy riding with a manure spreader?), he came home, we unloaded the cage and then drove everything back up to the barn...to find that in the confusion of everything, I'd left a gate ajar and Blossom was exploring the wash room (!).

Is it any wonder I don't have the Punkin's Patch 2016 Tour de Fleece ravatar created yet???

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SO, if you are on the fence about joining The Tour this year, jump on in! You can see that it's pretty, um, relaxed around here and in our fun Ravelry group. I'm obviously hopelessly unprepared this year, so the bar has been set at a record low. It will be fun!

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Don't forget the Yard/Yarn Sale next Saturday! Several TdF spinners from our group will be here so there will be butt kicking aplenty if you need it, learn to spin help aplenty if you'd like it, wool aplenty if you need something fun to spin or knit (or sell or trade) and sheep aplenty to hug if you aren't a knitter or spinner and just. like. sheep.

There will also be shade aplenty, air conditioning aplenty, ice cold drinks aplenty and peanut butter and jelly. Feel free to pack your own lunch ;-).

Hank, a Pyrenees/Maremma cross, is in charge of farm security with new girl, June, an Anatolian, backing him up and Junior Deputies Miss Tilly aka Weaslie, a Corgi, and Comby, a tough orange cat with a heart of gold. Kate, a Border Collie, handles the rush hour traffic. Iris, our first Border Collie, spent her whole life trying to keep all of us in line, but that was a hard job. Her Corgi sidekick was always underfoot and the Adventure Chickens NEVER did what she wanted.